Magical Thinking on Migrants

May 10, 2015

Libya’s descent into lawlessness since the toppling of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011 has spawned a terrible enterprise: smuggling people from Africa and the Middle East across the Mediterranean to Europe. In response, at Europe’s urging, the United Nations Security Council is going to be asked to consider a draft resolution authorizing military intervention in Libya against the smugglers.

Military intervention would be a grave mistake. It could sabotage negotiations for a power-sharing deal between Libya’s warring factions, thus killing chances of a political solution to the chaos in Libya. It is, in fact, a cynical strategy, born of Europe’s panic over a tide of foreign migrants. Smugglers have lured hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis, Eritreans and others fleeing conflict and misery, while selling a pack of lies to sub-Saharan Africans about the wonderful opportunities that await them in Europe.

So far this year, more than 1,800 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean. On April 23, the European Union called an emergency meeting after some 700 migrants perished in a single incident. After the meeting, Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Union’s top migration official, announced: “Europe is declaring war on smugglers.” As part of that war, Europe says it wants to seize or even sink smugglers’ empty boats.

Destroying all the boats would condemn migrants to exile. A far better (and obvious) way to put the smugglers out of business is to make migration from Libya to Europe safe and legal. On Monday, the European foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is scheduled to discuss the draft resolution for military intervention in Libya at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. The Security Council should tell her that no military intervention is needed — just compassion and common sense.